same in OH
or you can just send your vote in the mail. that's what i'm gonna do.
Your precinct election officials should be requiring that you present some form of identification, in Ohio. If you don't have any, they'd give you a provisional ballot, and the Board of Elections would later determine whether or not you're eligible to vote in that election (and tabulate your ballot accordingly).
Interesting. Not to sound paranoid, but is the ballot you mail back serialized or does it have your name on it? How about a return address on the envelope?
The general process -- though it varies state by state -- is that ballots are serialized, and the portion of the paper that displays the serial number is perforated. There's an additional bit of information on the envelope in which your ballot is sealed, that identifies you (and often requires your signature). Once your completed ballot (technically the envelope in which the ballot is sealed) has been received by the elections office, they:
- Check to ensure that the envelope is properly sealed, signed, and a record exists of a ballot having been sent to you. If any of these conditions are not met, abort processing because a committee decision is required (generally leads to rejection).
- Mark your ballot issuance record such that it now indicates your ballot has been received.
- In a team of generally two people, the envelopes are stacked in such a way that one person cannot see the printing on the envelope (which includes the voter's name). The person who cannot see the envelope information removes the ballot from the envelope, and reads the ballot serial number to the other person. The other person confirms that the serial number they hear matches the serial number printed on the envelope. If the serial number does not match, the ballot is placed back into the envelope, and the envelope is set aside for board/committee review. If the serial number does match, the serial number is permanently separated from the ballot. The ballot, the serial/stub paper, and the envelope are then placed in separate bins indicating that they're ready for their next step in process.
So.... if you trust your elections staff, the process permits for ballot secrecy. That said, if you don't trust your elections staff, then you have far greater problems than just ballot secrecy -- they're the people who are authoritative for election tabulation/results.